#12 May 2014

The Far East Rum Diary - Le Journal du Rhum d'Extrême-Orient

May 2014 Web Edition

The Far East Rum Diary (TFERD) is a collection of "rum worthy" news and events taking in place and beyond Asia written by Philippe K.A. Buchle, French Rum Ambassador based in Hong Kong.

RHUMSHOP
DEBUT

RUMFEST
HONG KONG
2014

VINEXPO
HONG KONG

MAKUMBA

NEXT
MONTH

The Sai Kung Sunday Market.

Gregory Rivers

The first Sunday of May was a rainy day so being indoor was a definite plus.

While some people around the world may have been busy putting on a Darth Vador black outfit or another Star Wars costume, here in Hong Kong local producers and artists were busy bringing their creations to the Sai Kung residents. Talking about movies, I came across an old friend at the market, the actor Gregory Rivers.

There was a wide range of products available including honey, chocolate, pancakes, bread, soap, oil and more.
A selection of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines including some organic wines as well as some of our fine rums were available at
The Wine Guild stall.

May 4th marked the debut of the RHUMSHOP initiative aiming at bringing a large range of fine rums to the end users.

RHUMSHOP logo.

RUMFEST HONG KONG 2014

Like last year the festival lasted two days. Tasting took place at the Honi Honi bar while Master Classes were held at Backstage. Nearly twenty brands of rums were available for tasting including rums like Kraken (Trinidad) and New Grove (Mauritius) presented for the first time in Hong Kong.

As expected, the majority of rums were from the West Indies and the Demerara regions. Angostura (Trinidad), Bacardi (Porto Rico), Havana Club (Cuba), Plantation and Ron Zacapa (Guatemala) were among the big names visible at the event.

The presence of Mauritius rums was noticeable with three brands (Chamarel, Flamboyant, New Grove) and no less than eight products available for tasting.

For the first time, personalities from the distilleries were at the festival to interact with the visitors, among them, Alexandre Gabriel (President of Cognac Ferrand) came from France to introduce his range of plantation rums, Mickael Derunes (Grays) came from Mauritius to introduce the new Grove rums. Liam F Costello (South Pacific Distillery) was also present for the debut of his rums from Fiji.

Three brands of Rhum Agricole were represented (Chamarel, Damoiseau and JM).

Among the visitors were Claudine Neisson (Rhum Neisson, Martinique) and Samuel Pitarch (Rhum Savanna, Reunion). Also several members of the media visited the festival. Last but not least, questions related to French rum (rhum) and Rhum Agricole were asked to Philippe Buchle, the Rhum Ambassador for a French TV channel.

The Rumfest is a great event, the rum lovers in the South China region should be grateful to all the people who worked

VINEXPO HONG KONG

Vinexpo Entrance.

The bar at Vinexpo.

Only three rums were present at both the RUMFEST and VINEXPO in May: The plantation rums at the Cognac Ferrand booth, the Damoiseau and J.M. rhums were present at the Spirodom and "Rhum A.O.C. Martinique" booths. The Damoiseau VSOP was also featured at the Vinexpo Spirit bar together with Neisson and La Favorite.

We did not find any English rum and other than plantation, we only found two Spanish rum brands at the fair: Dictador from Columbia and Malecon from Panama. As Vinexpo was started as a trade show for Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, it is somehow natural that the majority of rums presented were French or in the case of plantation owned by French companies.

Another French owned rhum present for the first time was the Rhum Arcane (made with Mauritius rums). Thibault De la Fourniere introduced the Arcane Delicatissime, the Arcane Extra Aroma (a 12 years old solera rhum) and two new products: The Arcane Cane Crush (this white rhum is the third arcane agricole rum) as well as a spiced rum (made from molasses) presented in a big round bottle called Beach House.

Ron Dictador is back. Photo by Xavier Picardo.

Rum plantation. Photo by Xavier Picardo.

As usual the "Rhum A.O.C. Martinique" booth featured a range of A.O.C. rums including Neisson (presented by Claudine Neisson), St James, HSE, La Mauny and more. La Martiniquaise was unable to show any Reunion rum like the new 12 years old Riviere du Mat instead they presented St James and Negrita from Martinique.

Also present at Vinexpo was La Favorite introduced a selection of their rums from the white rhum (coeur de cane) to the 30 years Cuvee Flibuste.

Samuel Pitarch was the only exhibitor from Reunion island. During the last Vinexpo Hong Kong (2012) he introduced the Chatel product range. This time he came with an impressive selection of Savanna rums including some rare rums made in small quantities.

A selection of Rhum Damoiseau. Photo by Xavier Picardo.

Rhum Arcane and the new spiced rum.

The Rhum A.O.C. Martinique booth. Photo by Xavier Picardo.

MAKUMBA

African dresses designed by Amina Lamarre.

About one year after being relocated to Lan Kwai Fong, Makumba the one and only Hong Kong African theme lounge had to close.

Makumba had to go but not without a last bang in the shape of a great party including a fashion show with dresses designed by Amina Lamarre herself, hand made jewellery by Vivi Villa Mage and a selection of fine rums and liqueurs by the RHUMSHOP.

Hong Kong is a very vibrant place with new venues opening every month. Yet unique places like Makumba or Les Boules (the first indoor petanque cafe in the world) will be missed.